Chapter 31 5. Centralization is an Inevitability

The history of the entire political system of human society in the past is the history of people relying on and relying on certain powers to control resources and distribute wealth, and it is also the history of human beings transforming relying on power and adjusting the distribution plan. History is long and exploration is diverse. The earliest way was by force.Whoever has the hardest fist and the sharpest knife has land, cattle, women, and honor.On the contrary, it becomes the slave of others.The strength of force is the only standard and option. The result is a "society of force".

A society of force is barbaric and unsustainable.The full flow of social wealth can only rely on the development of productive forces.Relying on plunder to accumulate wealth is not only costly and risky, but also harmful to all mankind. Sooner or later the butcher's knife is put down, the question is only what to pick up. There are also different options. Some people took up the abacus, they are business people.The commercial nation advocates free trade, and the amount of capital becomes the dominant force.The "financial society" thus established is capitalism. Another group of people chose the scepter, advocating that the mutual relationship and respective quotas should be determined according to the size of power.What was thus established was the "power society," of which the Chinese Empire was the quintessential example.

There are three types of armed society, financial society, and power society. These three social types have all existed in history.The tribal country is a typical armed society; the Greek city-state is an immature financial society; the Chinese state is a power society that has yet to be completed. So, they all have to change. The direction of the Greek city-state is to develop into a "quasi-empire".However, whether it is the Athenian Empire or the Spartan Empire, it is actually nothing more than an alliance of nations.Both Sparta and Athens are only alliance leaders, not suzerains.Its status is incomparable with Zhou Kingdom and Zhou Tianzi, and is only equivalent to the hegemony of Qi Huan and Jin Wen.

In fact, the Greek city-states could never become an empire.Because free trade and authoritarian centralization are incompatible in nature.Therefore, they could only be annexed by the Macedonian Empire first, and then conquered by the Romans.Their social ideals can only be realized in other commercial countries in the era of capitalism. Huaxia Bangguo is different. A state will definitely develop into an empire, because a state is originally the result of political compromise and political transactions.At that time, the Emperor Zhou was not capable of establishing a unified empire like the Egyptian Pharaoh Narmer, the Assyrian King Sargon, the Persian King Cyrus, and the Macedonian King Alexander, so he had to divide the princes and divide his own power. , to redeem the power of the princes.

very good!Exchange power for force, and land for peace. The question is, why was this deal possible?Because the princes from all walks of life are no longer bandits.Once the rogues become sitting bandits, they will further demand to become princes.Do princes and generals care about each other?No, they were all made by bandits.It's just that if the transformation is successful, it is called a prince, and if it fails, it is called a bandit.Winners and losers. What is this indicating? It shows that the transformation of force into power, and the transition from a society of force to a society of power, is a historical trend, even though that power is obtained by force.

Therefore, early human wars will have two results: on the one hand, resources and wealth will be concentrated in the hands of a particularly powerful group; on the other hand, they will simultaneously transform themselves from an armed group to a power group.This is the same principle as doing legal business after the underworld succeeds. Therefore, when a certain group (such as Qin) becomes invincible in force, the nature of society and the state will change qualitatively.A society of force will inevitably transition to a society of power, and states will inevitably transform into empires.

Empire is the mature and typical form of power society. Its characteristic is centralization. Centralization is inevitable, because the founders of the empire were originally military groups.Centralization of power and dictatorship of leaders are the favorites of military blocs, because otherwise they cannot defeat the enemy.Therefore, the rulers of the power society all centralize power, and all regard the establishment and control of the army as a top priority.Because they know better than anyone else that what they take by force can easily be taken by others by force. What's more, centralization is not difficult, because agricultural peoples have a desire for centralization.As Marx said, they are "a sack of potatoes" made up of many individual potatoes, which cannot represent themselves at all, and must be represented by others.Their representative must at the same time be their master, a supreme authority and unrestricted power.This power protects them from other classes and gives them rain and sunshine from above.

In fact, agricultural peoples also prefer power to force.Although the abuse of power will also bring misfortune, its destructive power is obviously less than that of rampant force.The lesser of two evils.If there is no other choice, the agricultural peoples would rather tyrants than mobs; they would rather submit to the emperor than to attach themselves to bandits. The imperial system is about to emerge. So, what is the explanation for the previous 800 years of the Bangguo era? States are the preparatory stage of empire.Like the Greek city-state system, it is also a great practice and exploration of human civilization.However, whether it is a state or a city-state, it only applies to city-states.Only a small country with few people can have either direct democracy (Greece) or direct monarchy (China).Once it becomes a territorial state with a vast territory and a large population, it can only implement a representative system in which "members represent public opinion" or a proxy system in which "officials represent the king's power".

Therefore, if a large country implements democracy, it can only be a federation; if a large country implements a monarchy, it must centralize power.Only in this way will the state system disintegrate and the world will have to be reshuffled.First the marquis became a principality, and then the principality became a kingdom.The kingdoms are all territorial countries, and they all implement the system of prefectures and counties.The devolution of the decentralized state to the centralized empire is unstoppable and imperative. But this by no means means that the previous age of states is meaningless.On the contrary, precisely because of the eight hundred years of preparation, the Chinese Empire is not the earliest empire in the world, but it is the most typical and mature empire.

But this point can only be seen after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Now let's go back to Qin.Obviously, Qin was able to annex the world and create an empire because their system and culture conformed to the trend of history.In other words, the Qin people merely acted as the executors of historical requirements and fulfilled the mission entrusted by history.This is their honor and their glory. That being the case, why did Qin die in the second generation?

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